The robots.txt file for LinkedIn determines how automated internet crawlers are allowed to engage with the site. The file shows restrictive posture with rules such as Disallow: /, Disallow: /psettings/, and Disallow: /smb/. These rules block almost all areas of the site for typical web scrapers. While some search engine bots are granted various permissions, the directives mostly apply to all standard user agents.

Despite the firmly restrictive stance, the robots.txt file does have allowances like Allow: /mwlite/, Allow: /school/, and Allow: /jobs/. Yet, these allowances are restricted to only specific search engine bots. In terms of sitemaps, there's only one reference such as Sitemap: https://www.linkedin.com/sitemap.xml. In essence, LinkedIn's robots.txt permits rampant restrictions on most areas for bog-standard scrapers, with only a few well-defined areas left open for specific crawlers. Its configuration manifests a highly restrictive stance toward web scraping, barring a few exceptions for certain search engine bots.

The terms of service for LinkedIn include explicit statements about automated access and data extraction. The terms state:

“Develop, support or use software, devices, scripts, robots or any other means or processes (including crawlers, browser plugins and add-ons, or any other technology) to scrape the Services or otherwise copy profiles and other data from the Services.”

“Use bots or other automated methods to access the Services, add or download contacts, send or redirect messages” and “Override any security feature or bypass or circumvent any access controls or use limits of the Service (such as caps on keyword searches or profile views).”

This covers all scraping, crawling, or bot-driven collection across both public and logged-in parts of the site. While enforceability can depend on whether a user has explicitly agreed to the terms (for example, by creating an account), LinkedIn frames these restrictions as universal when using its Services.

LinkedIn does provide official APIs (e.g., the LinkedIn Developer Platform), but access is limited and subject to separate approvals and agreements. The terms also prohibit attempts to bypass barriers such as logins, rate limits, or CAPTCHAs, as reflected in the prohibition on “override any security feature or bypass or circumvent any access controls or use limits.” Violations can lead to enforcement actions, including that LinkedIn may “restrict, suspend or terminate your account” for breaches or misuse. In practice, scraping is forbidden unless you have express written permission or are using approved APIs under LinkedIn’s policies.